Pepper St. John has known abuse from the moment that she was born. Now she is on her own and determined to make a life for herself. She is getting a top-notch education, and she knows that life can only get better once school is over. But when she graduates and starts her drive out to her new job, everything changes—because the two men she fell in love with years earlier knock on her motel door one night during a torrential storm.

Lincoln Jamison and Thomas Gordon are the last of the Scions to be paired off, and to say that it is wearing on them is putting it lightly. But they both also hope that they can get over the feelings that they developed for Pepper St. John before they meet the master key the Fates have paired them with.

Their joy to realize it was Pepper destined for them all along is overwhelming, but their dangers do not let up just because they have found her. Hades and Hera are against them, and time is running out for them all.

FIRST BOOKS IN THE SERIES….

First Contact

Fatal Truths

Their Weapons Maker

Her Healing Touch

Their Starlet

Excerpt

“Is she going to actually be able to find anything?” Mikhail asked Ares once the goddess was gone. “She’s right about us fucking the world up. It’s not going to make it any easier, will it?”

“No, it’s not, but she will find her. She’s relentless as you know,” Ares replied. “If the girl is truly descended from Zeus, there would be rain showers when she’s sad because she can’t control her power. She will also create thunder and lightning. Not much, of course, because the old man still has the thunderbolts, but there will still be some. Now, if it’s his daughter or granddaughter, that’s something else altogether. You see, the first two generations have the full power of the god that they descended from. I know how crazy that sounds, but that’s the truth of it.”

“Good,” Gareth nodded. He was looking at Lincoln and Thomas. Shifting closer to the god, he lowered his voice. “The sooner we find her, the better. How sure are you that it’s Zeus’s line the woman is from? I mean, you sounded damn sure, and your line of reasoning made sense to me, but are you really sure? I don’t know if they can hold out hope for one wild goose chase after another.”

“I’m absolutely positive that she’s of Zeus’s line. If Hera is as upset as Athena said, there’d only be one reason. She’s trying to stick it to the old man and failing. Seriously, the hate that your people have written about between the two of them is nothing compared to the truth. There is hate, and then there is holy-fucking-hell-watch-out-below sort of hate. That’s the hate that she has for him. She would do anything to make him hurt since she can’t outright kill him. She can’t do that because of the lightning bolts. Fucked up, I know, but there it is. Just like they can’t kill Apollo because of the sun or Artemis because of the moon. It’s all linked.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get an idea of how pissy she is for the fucker. She’s a raving bitch, isn’t she?” Shaking his head, Gareth rubbed a hand over his face, and sighed. “So she’s keeping the woman shielded from you guys. What happens if we find her while the shield’s still in place?”

“You wouldn’t know she’s a key,” Ares said. “Until that bubble is gone you wouldn’t know her if she was standing in front of you. Shit, if you were touching her you wouldn’t know. Hera has always been fucking good at shielding. The best. Athena will be able to find a general idea of where the girl is, but we have to find a way through that shield. Honestly, I don’t fucking know how.”

It was Brooklyn who responded. “Thomas and Lincoln.” Everyone looked at her. “Love. Hate is something, but love is something more. Love is unstoppable. It will overpower everything that’s in the way. Trust me. Ask Aphrodite if you don’t believe me, but if Athena can find a general area, send them and they will know who it is. Their souls and hearts will tell them who she is, if they don’t already know.”

All the men in the kitchen nodded. “She’s right,” James said quietly. “Hera may be powerful, but that bond is something beyond her. In range it will reach out, and they’ll know. It’s like being hit by a bolt of lightning, no pun intended, guys. Right between the eyes, and you know. Deep inside, you just know.”

“Exactly. I knew that Antonio and Stefan were mine the moment that I met them. I love that connection that I share with them. I don’t know how the guys felt, but I’m telling you I knew when I first saw them that they were mine.”

“So essentially we are waiting for Athena to pick up the weather problems and then shipping Lincoln and Thomas her way?” Rachael asked.

“I’m going to go and help her. Once we have a location I’ll be back for you two,” Ares said. “I will get you there as fast as I can, and if we have to keep hopping locations, we’ll do it. For now, get your gear together, and be ready at a moment’s notice. I’d better get back and see what she’s come up with already. Everyone good here?”

They all nodded, except Thomas and Lincoln. Those two looked antsy, and a little lost. Not a good combination.

Brooklyn turned to Thomas and Lincoln. “With that all being done, what do you need for me to do so that we can have you guys ready?”

Lincoln shook his head as he got to his feet. “We’ll go grab our go-bags. That’s all we can do right now. At least we’ll be able to take full gear with us since we’ll be traveling god airlines.”

Mik pushed off the counter and nodded. “I’ll get some food on while you two see to that. Everyone make sure your bags are ready as well, in case support is required. Then we eat, and everyone gets some sleep. I know you don’t feel like it, but we do what we can in the moment. Kas, want to help?”

“Sure.” Kasper stood and walked to where Mik was standing. “I’m thinking that we should make something that can be stored, just in case.” Everyone was looking at Thomas and Lincoln, both of whom looked like they had been kicked. It wasn’t a good look on either of them.

The last thing that wedding planner Ava Charleston ever dreamed that she would do was run for her life, but here she is, running away from a pair of murderers and back toward a home she hadn’t been to in years.

Stone Mayhew is the president of the Silver Devils, a one percenter motorcycle club, so when a brother receives a call from his cousin Ava begging for help, Stone is one of the first ones there to help his friend.

The moment Stone meets Ava he knows that she is it for him, just like his daddy had told him would happen one day. Stone knows that he will do whatever it takes in order to ensure that Ava remains safe, but he doesn’t realize it will have to happen the second that they arrive back at the Club.

Misunderstandings lead to more danger, and that sends them all to chasing down trouble through the bayous of Louisiana. But once he finds Ava, Stone vows never to let her go again.

Excerpt:

Stone Mayhew

When a friend asks you for help the only answer is yes, especially in an MC Club. Of course, I could have told Sarge no. That was one of the perks of being the president of the club, but the fact was that I was curious about this missing family member of Sarge’s, the one that was off limits for discussion. The one that Sarge had told me about one time when he had been too drunk to realize what he was saying. No one was that good. No one had that little malice in their bodies. I knew. I had thought at one time that I had found someone good in the woman that I had been fucking, but Cheryl had turned out to be a bitch. She thought that because I was a biker and my father had been president of the club that she would ride my dick up the ranks and never have to worry about anything.

Too bad for her that I had found out what a complete bitch she was when one of the old ladies had caught her fucking one of the pledges. Cheryl had gone off on the old lady, telling her that because she was fucking me that had her higher in the pecking order and if she didn’t want to cause trouble for her old man she would keep her mouth shut. Too bad for my ex that I had heard her and then saw her as she hit the woman.

Needless to say, the pledge was never found again, and the whore was put into the place she belonged. She was now a dick rider for anyone that wanted her. Sure, I had to see her and she still tried to get me to fall for her tricks, but I never would again. I was not stupid and wouldn’t fall for any bitch’s shit. No, I was not only Stone in name but also in my heart as well. I wasn’t going to blow Sarge’s viewpoint on his cousin, but I just hoped the woman didn’t turn out to be just as shitty as every other woman that I had met in my life.

Even with all of those thoughts rumbling in my mind I knew I couldn’t let Sarge ride alone. Charles, or Sarge as he was called in the club because he was my Sergeant-at-Arms, was as close to me as a brother. Charles and I had been thick as thieves for years, and I had met all of Charles’s family, even Ava’s mother, who actually had been a decent old lady, but I had never met this woman, Ava. So that was what had me on my bike with a dozen of my men and another half dozen pledges. It was time for us to show force and protect one of our own, even if it was a woman.

We met up with the woman in question along the road, and when I first saw her I had to admit I was taken aback. She didn’t look anything at all like Charles. She was fucking stunning. She had thick, long, midnight black hair that curled around her ass. Her eyes were a deep green, and her skin was lightly tanned. I could tell by looking at her that she had been running her hands through that glorious hair, and it made my dick hard. The thought of wrapping my hands in her hair and fucking her from behind instantly popped into my mind, a thought I shouldn’t have about a brother’s family. And then she spoke. Hell, the woman’s voice was like angels singing, if I believed in such fucking things anymore.

“Charlie!” She called to Sarge and flung herself at him. For the first time in a long time, I felt like punching the man and had no idea why. This reaction was insane, and I didn’t understand it all. I could tell that the woman was surprised by the number of bikers that had surrounded her in the small turnoff that Sarge had told her to take, but she only moved closer to her cousin. “When you said gang, I thought you were kidding,” she whispered to her cousin, words that were caught by every man present.

I had enough and stood. Approaching Sarge and the woman, Ava, I said, “Well, we’re more like a brotherhood.” I offered my tattooed hand to her. “I’m Stone Mayhew, President of the Silver Devils, and you are now officially under our protection.”

I didn’t offer my protection lightly, but I did to her willingly, easily. When she placed her hand in mine the shock was immediate. I had heard my old man talking about this, heard the whispers from some of the older generation of men that were still there and married with old ladies. The ones that were faithful old bastards but still as badass today as they were back when they were taking turns on jobs. Her hand was soft, that was the second thing I noticed, and she looked me in the eyes, not something a lot of people did.

“Nice to meet you, Stone,” she said and then smiled up at me. She hugged me then, taking all of them by surprise. I heard a couple of my men slide their pieces from their holsters and Sarge’s immediate pissed off growl to those men.

“Holster your fucking weapons. She’s just a goddamn hugger, you idiots.” Leave it to Sarge to put a name to what the woman was doing. When she pulled back she looked shocked however.

“You have guns and knives on you.” She had looked up at me as she asked me that question and quickly raced back to her cousin, and the relative safety she thought she had there. If only she knew just how deadly her cousin was.

“Yes, we all have weapons on us, Kitten. We aren’t a damn knitting club. We are an MC club, and we’re a one percenter club at that. That means that we take no fucking shit from anyone, which is why Sarge told you to get your sweet ass down here double time.” I knew I was being a dick, but I had to put distance between myself and the woman because I wanted her, in a big way.

I watched her bristle under the use of the name Kitten and smiled when she volleyed back with her next words, “Well, how was I to know that you didn’t belong to a knitting club? You look like you could do a double stitch with the best of them. After all, I’m assuming that those vests aren’t picked up at Wal-Mart, so someone has to have some kind of talent.”

Well, good for her, she could stand up for herself. Her words had me fighting a smile, but Sarge just snickered, damn him.

“That’s what the pledges are for.” Sarge waved to a couple of the men and then told her, “This is Kenny and Baxter. They’re going to take your SUV, cuz, and I’m taking you.” He wrapped a protective arm around her and hugged her to his side, giving me a hard look. “Unless that’s an issue?”

“Nope, not with me,” I said and held up his hands and went back to my bike. There was an issue, the fact that I wanted to have her riding behind me and not behind Sarge. “Let’s get moving. I’m sending Tuba, Vax, and Bird to her place in New York. Kitten, pass your house keys over to the boys so that they can pack your shit and put it in a moving van to head out when the pledges get there.”

“My name is Ava. Please don’t call me Kitten again? I dislike that from people that don’t even know me, yet.”

Oh, I would use it all right, but when I did I would be balls deep inside of her little pussy. Fuck, I hadn’t meant to go there again. I shouldn’t be thinking about my friend’s family like that.

“Sarge.” I warned my friend to get her in line, hoping he would.

“Okay, cuz, let’s get on my bike and get moving. Thanks, Prez,” Sarge said to me and nodded once as they walked past me to Sarge’s bike. It was comical watching Sarge trying to help her onto the back of his bike, but once she was up there she looked like she was born to ride bitch on the back of a bike. God dammit, the woman was giving me blue balls and killing me with just how good she looked. I kicked my bike’s kickstand. Once I got on it and we all got moving, I was able to watch her as she rode behind her cousin. At first, she was tentative and clung to Sarge’s middle, the lucky fuck, but then she let go and had her hands out with a gleeful laugh that made me ache to be the one to introduce her to riding.

Fuck, this was not going to work. I didn’t know what it was about the woman, but I was drawn to her, far too much.

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The last thing that Ava Charleston ever dreamed that she would do was run for her life, after all she was just a wedding planner and the worst thing to ever happen in her life was that a bride had cold feet and had to be reminded of why she was marrying the man she was marrying. However here she was, running away from the life she had built and back toward a home she hadn’t been to in more years than she could count.

She made a phone call to the only family she had left there, a cousin that she had who still lived in Louisiana that she knew she could trust. A man that would hide her, she just had to get to him.

Stone Mayhew was president of the Silver Devils, a one percenter motorcycle club that is a take no shit or prisoners club that ran drugs, weapons and anything else that would earn them coin from Mexico into the United States. He had killed more men than he cared to count both in his time in the military and especially his time as a Silver Devil. So, when a brother received a call from his cousin begging for help, Stone was one of the first ones there to help his friend, Sarge.

The miles that separated them were long so they met in the middle and the moment Stone met Ava he knew that she was it for him, just like his daddy had told him would happen to him one day. Spending a night with her solidified that in his mind. Once they were home Stone knew that he would do whatever it took in order to ensure that Ava remained safe, kill whoever it took in order to keep her safe.

He just didn’t realize it would have to happen the second that they arrived back at the Club.

Misunderstandings lead to more danger and that leads them all to chasing down trouble through the Bayous of Louisiana and once he has found Ava again stone vows never to let her go again.

Dr. Hailey Davenport thinks that she’s nothing to anyone but her patients. Little does she know that her ex-boyfriend has used her for collateral for a massive debt that he’s racked up with the Russian Mafia.

When the gods realize the danger Hailey is in, they put the doctor under the protection of the Scions, twelve remarkable young men—but only two of them draw her in, Owen Lueger with his green-grey eyes, and Nolan Vedius-Calidus with his sexy as sin voice.

Owen and Nolan have watched three sets of their friends meet and fall in love within a second of meeting their fated woman, but they hadn’t believed that it would be true for them—until they meet Dr. Hailey Davenport.

It is a good thing for them that their sweet doctor is open for all of the things that they want to do to her and then some. Still, it will take all of their team, and a little divine assistance, to finally end the danger that is coming for Hailey, but end it they will. It is the only way that they can finally have their happily ever after.

Be Warned: menage (MFM) sex, anal sex, double penetration, spanking

Excerpt:

Hailey rocked back and forth on her feet. She really was tired, but she had been tired before. “So, is it just you guys?” she asked with a frown. “Are you going to take turns on who gets the night and who gets the day and so on?” She heard the door slide open, but couldn’t see it with all the men that were in front of her.

“Nope, there are more of us,” Gareth told her from somewhere up front. The elevator began to empty out. Gareth waited for her and waved her into the foyer of the suite. “They’re waiting inside for us. I’ll introduce you before you pick the room you want to use—there are six up here—and then your dinner should be here.”

She walked into the suite with Gareth and straight to the windows. “Wow, this is a gorgeous view.”

They were at the top of the hotel and looked out over the city. It was stunning really. She turned around, and when she did lost all thought and all capability of speech. The two men that seemed to appear from thin air captured her attention and sucked the brain out of her head and air from her lungs, or at least that was how it felt in those moments.

“And there it is,” someone said from one side.

“Hailey Davenport, this is the rest of the team. Lincoln and Wyatt on the right, and the two you’re drooling over are Owen and Nolan. Guys, this is Hailey.” She heard a couple of hellos, but they couldn’t really compete with the white noise filling her head as she stared at the two men.

She just stood there and looked at the men. She didn’t hear anything but her heart rapidly beating. “Um.” She swallowed, hard. She struggled to find words, but for some reason, she couldn’t find words to bring forth. She thought she was brighter than she was acting right now, but she obviously was wrong because words wouldn’t come to her. The men were massive. They were night and day when it came to their hair color, one with midnight black hair and the other a bright blond. One had green eyes and the other blue, but they both caught her attention as soon as she had turned around.

“Hi?” It didn’t come out as a statement, more of a question because her brain simply wasn’t firing enough to make her come up with anything other than the two-letter word.

“For a woman that wouldn’t shut up on the ride over, that’s the best she can do?”

She struggled to find the right wording. What could she say that wouldn’t make her sound like a complete idiot around men who suddenly got her motor running on full steam? But she needed to keep her wits about her, to stay focused on everything happening.

“It’s the whole recognition thing, totally fries the brain. They’re not all that much better off.”

“Leave them be. It’ll start to clear in a few. Will someone get the damn elevator already? That’s her food, and she’ll be really pissed if they take it back to the kitchen while she was all dazed and confused.”

She shook her head and looked away from the two men because if she didn’t, she would lose herself again. “Yes, food. I’m hungry.” She noticed that she had moved from in front of the windows and instead was right there within touching distance of the two men that had struck her dumb. “I’m sorry, what are your names again?”

“Owen,” the blond told her.

“Nolan,” the other man said with a crooked grin.

“Food’s here,” Gareth called to her. “I’d come get it before they finish eating all the fries off your plate, and move on to something of more substance.”

“They touch my fries, and I will break their fingers,” she muttered without taking her eyes off Nolan. “Right, food. Sorry, but I need to eat. I—holy mother, you are both so good looking, I swear this is a dream. I’m sleeping, or dead, or maybe it’s from being so damn hungry, I just don’t know. I thought that these others were hot, but hell, you guys are even hotter. Wow.” She wanted to reach out and touch them to ensure that they were real, and she wasn’t dreaming. “I thought Tom was the best-looking man I ever met in my life, but he’s got nothing on you guys. At all. Holy crap on a cracker.” She covered her mouth when an unexpected laugh burst free at her wayward thoughts.

“Crap on a cracker?” Owen asked, hiding his smirk.

“I try not to curse around the kids, so I switch it up, well, unless you wake me up, or I’m really ticked off,” she explained, still snickering at the giant men in front of her, who she now thought must have been carved out of clay or something. But everyone around her looked puzzled as to why she as acting like a crazy impression of the Joker from Batman.

“Any idea what she’s going on about?” Nolan asked softly.

At his side, Owen shook his head with a bemused look. “Nope, not even the foggiest. But I think we can forgive her. She’s a little flustered, and a lot distracted right now. She really should eat something, too.”

“Right, yes, food. And I’m not confused.” She shook her head and got her mind back where it should be. “I was saying that you are all seriously hot. I thought that these guys were seriously hot, but they are nowhere near as hot as you two. Seriously, it’s ridiculous how cute you are. I bet your wives are thanking God every day for you.”

“We’re not married,” Nolan said with a grin. “Of course, neither are they, yet. Some of them are taken, though,” he added.

Enter to win by emailing me a screenshot of your purchase of Her Healing Touch, or emailing me a link to where you reviewed Her Healing Touch. Email me at: april.zyon@gmail.com – if you do both the purchase and review that’s 2 entries not just one.

Rachael Dunfries isn’t ready to die. She’ll fight tooth and nail to survive the gutless attack that put her in the hospital—even hire protection to keep her safe. Falling in love with the men looking after her was not part of the plan.

Discovering the threat won’t be an easy battle to win, but Dieter Adler-Faust and Wyatt Aragon are as ready as they can be. The fight that ensues isn’t what they had planned. A new level of war has been declared. For the love of their woman, they’ll do whatever is necessary.

An attack too close to home has everyone scrambling. Rachael is in danger, Wyatt’s injured, and the battle lines are drawn. It’s a fight they can’t lose if they want to finally have a chance at a life together.

Excerpt:

“You do realize I was busy, right?” Ares’s growl echoed in the room made of white marble and gold. “I was kicking ass in a game. What’s so fucking important?”

“Your descendant.” Apollo stood before the well and looked into it. “She’s safe, for now, but she won’t be for long. She should be getting out of the hospital in a couple of days.”

“Hospital?” Ares’s chest tightened in fear as he rushed to Apollo’s side. “Why?” The anger from being summoned so abruptly during his game immediately evaporated when his brother told him his descendant was in the hospital. There the brothers stood one on each side of Rachael’s bed looking down at her.

“We were to meet for lunch, and when she didn’t show, I flashed to her apartment. I found her in a pool of blood and called an ambulance. She’d been shot. I assisted in repairing a bit of the damage, but you know our hands are tied on what we can and can’t do.”

“Fuck.” Ares carded his fingers through his hair angrily. “Who?”

“Uncertain. She’s not exactly out of the public eye, so it could just be some idiot human trying to destroy her.”

Ares snorted. “She’s so much like her Great-Many-Times-Over Grandmother. Always determined to ensure that the masses have what they need no matter what it costs her.”

“That’s very much Rachael. She’s more than that, however, as you should know. She’s exceptionally brilliant with tactics.”

“Has the faction in charge of her protection been mobilized yet?”

“They have. I killed one of them because he was going to shoot an air bubble into Rach’s IV line to ensure she died when she went in for her last blood transfusion.”

“Fuck.” Ares looked over the pale young woman in the bed. “So, she did inherit that genetic trait?”

Apollo nodded.

The girl could cause widespread bloodshed by causing wounds that would fester and grow, a trait she’d inherited from Ares. But because she didn’t know how to use the ability, she only ended up hurting herself: she had anemia and required frequent blood transfusions.

“So aside from that, she’s okay?”

“She nearly died, and her soul had to be tugged back into her body, but she’s a fighter.” Apollo touched the girl’s cheek. “I’m worried because she’s seen the other side, but Hades has seen her and knows exactly who she is. I saw our uncle when I pulled her soul back from the fogs of death—we’re going to have issues. If it weren’t against the rules, I would say we need to take her to Olympus where we could guarantee her safety.”

“Not even Olympus is safe, brother. You know this as well as I do.” Ares sighed and ran his hand over his jaw. “When she’s released, I will take her to the farm. In the meantime, watch over and protect her? I will see about getting the Scions here in the interim to keep watch as well.”

“You’re certain they’ll be able to keep watch over her and keep her safe?”

Ares glared at Apollo. “I believe in them. You need to as well. They have kept your descendant safe, haven’t they?”

“True. How is she?”

“Good. In love. I think her brother is ready to beat her lovers bloody, but she’s safe. She’s where she belongs. You should come and see her.”

“I can’t. Not yet. Let me ensure that Rach is safe and then I will.” Apollo looked down at Rachael and stroked her cheek again. “Your men need you—that team needs you. You’re going to create weapons for them to use in this war. Wake, sweet Rachael. Wake and come back to the land of the living.”

Ares bowed to his brother. “For all that you do, thank you.” He was gone in a flash.

****

Rachael heard herself flatline, the shrill sound of one long and seemingly never-ending tone. As she floated outside of her body, she watched the paramedics working on her. Rachael looked over her shoulder at the fog rolling toward her with a bright light in the center of it. She looked back to her body again.

Rubbing her bodiless hands over her arms, she shook her head and whispered, “Fight. Fight, damn you!” she demanded, even as the fog rolled around her ankles.

She felt the gentle touch of the past of the happiness and safety that she had at all times before any of the incidents had started. She felt the security the fog offered her, but she fought it off.

There it was.

The same shrill note.

She knew there was safety in the fog, but Rachael had never been one to go where it was safe. She reached out and latched onto her body with her soul as she was lifted and pushed into the back of an ambulance.

She watched with detached amazement as the man in the back of the ambulance with her seemed to move with the vehicle, keeping her body still even as the driver drove like a bat out of hell.

He was good, this man working on her. She had to admit to that.

She heard it again. Beat… A loud alarm… Beat… The same alarm…

“Fuck.” The man working on her stabbed her with a devilishly long needle, but as an ethereal soul floating free, she felt nothing.

Sensing a presence at her back, she looked over her shoulder and saw him: a massive and imposing man demanding she release him. He was wrong. Something about him was very wrong.

Suddenly there was something new, a bright light inside of the fog, sunshine in its purest form. It surrounded her and pulled her from the vicious shadow of a man as he screamed and raced toward her corporeal form.

****

Rachael was jerked back to reality when a jolt of electricity raced through her veins. She heard someone saying, “We have her back.”

****

When her eyes opened next, she saw her Uncle Adam standing above her.

“Water?” she croaked.

“Of course, ma petite.” He brought a straw to her lips. It was odd; for a moment, her Uncle Adam looked like he was emanating light as bright as sunshine on a rainy day. Very strange indeed.

Each Friday I am going to post something I’m going to call my Fresh Friday Read – this is going to be a snippet from a WIP (work in progress) and you my delightful and amazing readers will be the judge on if you want me to continue or not!!

You can leave a message here on my blog, or message me on Facebook. I’m easy either way.

So, today I am leaving you with something that I’ve never done before – FIRST PERSON! That’s right my darling’s I’m writing a new book and it’s in first person. (I’m terrified!)

So, my sweet ones without further adieu let me introduce you to Dimitri. I love to listen to this man tell me his story. I hear him in my mind with a heavy Russian accent and its interesting to say the least.

I watched the news with dispassionate care. The politicians on the television strutting about like puppets on a string doing one thing while actually pulling off another. They were con men, they were worse than the loan sharks who would loan to the poor schmucks that couldn’t pay them back. At least with those bastards you knew you would get your kneecaps broken or killed when you didn’t pay. They didn’t hide behind the shiny smiles and false promises like politicians did.

“The fuckers do have their uses.” I mused aloud in the room and stood. I had more than one of the assholes in my pocket, but I wasn’t the only Boss who had those unlucky so called civil servants in their hands, but I was the one with the most because I owned the club that most of the sick fuckers liked to come to. No, today I simply wanted to see what the good Mayor had to say. I had told him exactly what he needed to say about the continued car jacking. It wasn’t something that I was involved in personally, however, being how it was one of the assholes that thought they could come into my territory and set up shop I was putting out a very clear message.

I looked over at the video monitoring system at the men held and currently being worked over by my enforcers and smiled. I was putting out a loud and clear message to their bosses at least that I had this town wrapped up in a tiny little bow and for them to come onto my turf and try to take over without even giving me the courtesy of knocking on my door and asking was like a giant fuck you, which was unacceptable to me.

Standing I turned off the television once the good deviant that we called Mayor put the message out that I wanted to be put out and smiled. “Now time for me to go to work and figure out just who the hell these little bastards work for and where they came from.” I had an idea, I just needed the confirmation from them. I knew that Patrick O’Casey was trying to muscle in on my side of the river again and that was a bloody battle last time we fought and one I was looking forward to again. The little punk took the reins of the Irish house in the city and thought that he could fill his daddy’s shoes right away and I was just the right demented fucker to put him into place.

Cracking my knuckles, I walked down the steps of my home and into the basement where his men were being kept by mine. “Ivan, Dafid, I do believe that I would like to have a turn with our friend here.” I watched two of my closest friends and most trusted Enforcers give me a respected nod as they backed away from the men that hung from their wrists with rope from the ceiling.

I looked at the two men who swung back and forth. My men hadn’t been gentle and that was appreciated, however, they had left the men conscious which was exactly what I wanted. I removed my crisp white shirt and knew what the men saw. I wasn’t a vain man, but I was very aware of how I looked, I worked hard to keep up the body that served me so well and I was damn proud of it. They would see not only the six pack abs that I worked daily on, but the numerous tattoos that littered my body. I knew they would also see the ones that would have them shitting themselves if they knew anything about Russian prisons and how they worked. I had spent time in the gulag and had lived to build a stronger and better life but not before I was scarred and marked by the inmates inside of those walls of hell. American prisons were like staying at a Holiday Inn, more than one of my men had said when they had to actually spend time in jail for a crime. No, Russian prisons were their own nasty and terrible beasts and I came out their fucking king.

“Now, you will tell me who gave the order for you to step onto my turf to steal a specific list of cars from a specific list of people?” I asked in a very calm voice, at least I thought that it was a very calm voice considering how volcanically pissed off I felt inside.

They had been ordered to steal from me and those I protected, that was unacceptable to me and I refused to let this slide.

“Fuck you.” One of the cocky little bastards said while I was musing about how they had been ordered to steal from me and mine. Oh, he was going to pay for his words, and pay dearly.

“Do you know who I am?” I asked because it was possibly these idiots simply didn’t know that they were in the den of the devil himself.

“Yeah,” the one who had the motormouth continued. “Doesn’t make a fucking difference to me. Would do it a-fucking-god-damn-gen you fucking self-righteous prick. Not like you and yours don’t come onto our side of the river.” The idiot spat at me and onto my shoes. Shoes that I liked. I swung at his partner, not him.

Smiling I looked at the cocky one again. “I am Dimitri Dudikov and I am the Head of the Russian mafia here in Arlington, and the east coast. Anything that happens comes through me first so I would say that you are a liar and every lie you speak, your friend will pay.” The shocked look was priceless and one that I had become accustomed to. Yes, this little fuck didn’t know who they had come into the home of. They had thought it was a Lower Boss, not Me.

“Why him? I’m the one who insulted you.”

“Because I’ve found the one who talks the loudest is the one who is the cockiest and seems to think he knows it all where the one who is silent typically does know it all.” I looked at the silent one and nodded. “Ah yes, understanding is there. He knew very well just whose turf and home he was coming into, didn’t you?”

At the silence the man swinging beside him twisted, “Jesus Toby, tell me you didn’t bring me into the Devil’s background.” Continued silence. I wasn’t really surprised. He would be the hardest one to break. I looked at three of the lower level Enforcers and nodded.

“Take our talkative friend here back home.” I could practically feel the relief flowing from him, stupid idiot, didn’t he realize I was not a nice man? “I will let you all decide how many pieces to deliver him in. I would save the head for his Boss however, that’s just me. Have fun boys.” I knew my men would see to it, I trusted them just as they trusted me. I would die and kill for them and it was no different for them.

I turned my attention to the silent one. “Ivan, will you bring me my tools, please?” I was going to get to have some fun after all. Maybe later I would even hire a few whores for everyone because I knew it would only be a matter of hours before I broke this man, they all broke under my hand. I was The Devil and it was my time to play.

Kasper St John was rock solid in her life. She grew up in a loving home, and her wonderful adoptive parents raised her to be a strong woman. She also knew any truth from the touch of another person’s skin.

Kasper’s world turned upside down after the deaths of her parents, even more so when she learned a man who worked for her father’s company was the reason for their deaths.

James Ashton and Victor Dudayev served with each other for a number of years, and their training as Scions on Mount Olympus took their friendship to a higher level. They had always been close but something clicked when they were on Olympus and they knew one day they would share a woman, a woman that would be their forever.

When they meet Kasper they know she’s that woman. They’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s safe from those that want her dead, if she doesn’t beat them to it. With help from the other Heroes of Olympus, and perhaps a little nudge of help from the Gods, they might just get their happily ever after.

Ares made his way toward his men, the Scions and protectors of the Descendants. These men were all specially trained military men before he’d gotten his hands on them. Now, after having trained in the halls of Olympus, they were the Heroes of Olympus. Deadly, powerful men whose very DNA had been changed by spending time in the Heavens.

Ares needed to explain their next case, a case that they were already aware of, since they had just attended the funeral of the woman’s adoptive parents’ weeks earlier. Ares took a deep breath before he addressed the men. “I need to talk to you about the funeral you all attended more than two weeks ago.”

Camilla spoke. “You mean the one where the daughter was smiling when she was getting into her limo? From what I hear from the boys, that man was a hero, and his wife was as close to a freaking saint as possible, so why was the daughter smiling? Did she kill them? Are you sending the guys to take her in?”

Ares could see that they all believed Camilla. Not good. That wasn’t at all what he had been thinking they would ask. He never would have thought that anyone would believe that Kasper St. John was a bad person or a person who would want her parents dead. Then again, no one really knew her the way that Artemis and Ares did.

“No,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sending you in to protect her. There have been several attempts on her life. She’s Apollo’s descendant. Kasper is actually a very good person, but I know you, Cam, and I know that you’ll have to see that for yourself.”

Camilla snorted. “Of course. He’s a womanizer and an ass, so of course she would be his.”

Ares laughed. “That’s my girl,” he said with a wink. “But he’s not like the myths state. One day, you’ll meet him and understand. Oh, and just so you know, Artemis will be around more often. She has been the one watching over Kasper, and she’s rather attached to her, so don’t be surprised if she drops in from time to time.”

“Great.” Camilla rolled her eyes. “I love you, Uncle A, but seriously?” She grumbled. “Okay. Fine. Whatever. So are you going to give us all the details on this girl?” Clearly, Camilla didn’t like Kasper, but she would soon learn what a gentle soul the girl was.

He looked to the men. “Do any of you have questions?” He wondered which of these men were Kasper’s—he knew it wasn’t either Mikhail or Gareth, which reminded him he needed to speak to Mikhail alone. Mikhail needed to know he was going in to save his half-sister.

“We’re going to need to have full specifications on her house, office, those around her, both relations and otherwise,” Gareth said. “Every single detail about her life from the moment she was born.” Gareth frowned at Ares and then his gaze cut to Mikhail, back to Ares, and narrowed more. The man didn’t ask the question on his mind, though.

“Every part of her life will be on your desks in the war room. Blueprints to her home, as well as all security codes, are in there as well.” Ares looked to Mikhail. “She isn’t what you’re all thinking. She’s not the smiling heiress who’s happy her parents are gone. You’ll be surprised at what she was actually smiling at.” Ares paused before saying, “Kasper smiled because she saw the love Camilla has for Mikhail and Gareth and was in awe of that love. It gave her hope for humanity.” He saw the looks of surprise on the faces of everyone present and nodded. “Exactly. Now, what other questions do you have?”

“Until we go through the intel, none,” Gareth spoke again. “Guys, let’s get working on what Ares has given us. We need to be ahead of the curve on this one, and quickly.” He moved toward Mikhail and lifted a brow. Mik gave a small nod without taking his eyes off Ares.

When the others were gone, Mikhail addressed Ares. “What the fuck didn’t you say in front of the others?”

“We should go for drinks. Where would you like to go?” Ares asked, watching the tick in Mikhail’s jaw. “We at least need to have a seat, because what I have to say is going to knock you on your ass. Trust me on that.”

“There’s a pub three klicks from here. It’ll do,” Mik said with a definite growl to his voice. Ares knew the man hated being put off. Saw evasiveness to be a weakness. Ares was waiting because he didn’t think Mik would want anyone to overhear their conversation. At least not before the man could process it himself.

“Then hold onto your shit.” Ares lay a hand on the man’s shoulder. Soon, they appeared in the pub without anyone being the wiser. Taking a seat at a table in the rear of the bar, Ares said, “Order a drink, and when the waitress is gone, I will tell you.” Ares leaned back, raising his hand to get the waitress’ attention. “Trust me, you will want it. Hell, I want one, too.”

Mikhail ordered a double Scotch neat—top shelf, of course. He looked at Ares as if daring him to deny Mik the pricy beverage. One hand rested on the table. Other than his eyes, Mik sat perfectly still. The man reminded Ares of a predator waiting to attack.